


Into You

by Helasdottir



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Idiots in Love, M/M, Past Sexual Abuse, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-13 18:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18474175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helasdottir/pseuds/Helasdottir
Summary: The revolution is over. Androids are now integrating into society as people in their own right. Markus and Simon are building a life together, picking up the pieces left by previous traumas, moving forward one step at a time.





	Into You

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write dumb boys in love.

Markus thought things would be easier after the new android laws were passed. Jericho was dissolved as a protest movement, but reemerged as a company headed by the four androids who led the revolution: North, Josh, Simon, and Markus himself. They gained control of CyberLife and its assets, repurposing the technology to help improve and maintain existing androids rather than creating new ones.

Markus spent most of his time still advocating for android rights and helping to heal the divide caused by the government’s actions during the panic of late 2038, but he tried to distance himself enough so that the cause would not suffer should anything happen to him. Instead, he uplifted and encouraged other androids to face the public and media, diversifying the face of their species.

In his free time, away from the pressures of being a CEO or speaking in public with the weight of an entire race on his shoulders, he would visit Carl and sit by his side, voicing his doubts and hopes. More and more often, the man encouraged him to express his feelings through art, enough so that Markus set up a small studio in the empty second bedroom of the apartment he’d chosen as his home.

Most of his paintings had a pattern: yellow and blue strokes bringing light and hope into darkened landscapes, pieces inspired by his most disturbing memories. Markus knew the reason for that color palette. He saw it every day in the eyes of his partner, his boyfriend, the person who supported him without question.

Markus had been nervous about their relationship at first. Simon’s devotion was unconditional and boundless, but he was very clearly reserved in his affections. North even questioned the validity of their bond when she learned that, after eight months living together, they hadn’t shared a single kiss.

Markus wasn’t bothered. He longed for the contact, yes, but he had seen Simon’s memories – the way his human owners touched him, the repulsion he felt at the thought of physical intimacy. He would never push him to feel that way again.

Because of his physical limitations, Simon slept on the couch. Markus had been hurt the first night they shared the apartment, expecting his partner to join him in bed without the pretense of sex, but he grew comfortable with their arrangement over time. He limited himself to touching his boyfriend over his clothes: a hand on his lower back or shoulder, on his knee, a caress to his upper arm. When they watched television together, Simon felt comfortable enough to press close, and they would share hugs often enough that Markus never felt physically neglected.

The rare times their bare skin touched for more than a few seconds, Markus could sense the purity and intensity of Simon’s feelings for him through their interface. That was always his anchor back from the dark corners of his mind.

They had been living together for one year and three months when Markus realized he could have this for the rest of his life. He was painting a field of sunflowers against a blue sky, Simon watching him between stitches of the scarf he was knitting, classical music playing in the background. It was a perfectly domestic scene, one he never wanted to give up.

The very next day, he invited North to join him in his quest for the perfect ring. There was no need to make excuses, Simon wouldn’t question them meeting up for any reason, so Markus gave him a gentle squeeze on the arm and slipped out of the apartment just after what humans called lunch time.

“Are you sure this is the right decision, Markus?” North’s concerned question broke through the overwhelming amount of data piling on his HUD as he processed the magnitude of his decision. He turned to her with a soft, certain smile.

“Yes. I love him.” Markus had never felt this certainty before. Even during the revolution, he had been constantly conflicted, searching for the best answers through a sea of anger and injustice. With Simon, things were simple, straightforward. There was no other place for him to be but by his side.

“I’m worried you’re not thinking this through,” she insisted, placing a gentle hand on his elbow. Her face expressed worry without the same harsh edges as before.

“I’m not. Our relationship may be unconventional, but I know he loves me. I know I can be there for him the way he needs me to.”

“Have you even discussed marriage?”

“No.” Markus shook his head, smile faltering as he thought of all the reasons why their relationship seemed so odd to others. “You know Simon is… insecure, he has a lot of reservations about himself. I want to surprise him, make him feel good. I want to prove he’s wanted.”

“I want you both to be happy.” North smiled then, brief but supportive. “Let’s go pick out a ring.”

There were too many options. While most engagement rings were thin bands tailored towards women, the men’s section was not lacking. After going through almost every option in the store, Markus settled for a silver ring with a princess cut blue diamond in the center and ordered it to fit Simon’s ring finger.

Four weeks later, he had the finished product in a dark blue velvet box, which he hid in the seldom opened drawer under the television in the living room. Markus could feel the excitement pulsing through his metallic veins, through every wire and biocomponent in his body. He had yet to plan out the proposal itself, but he had time.

That’s what he thought.

He came home one day to find Simon cross-legged on the couch, electronic magazine in hand, but he wasn’t reading. He seemed to be staring almost through the tablet and Markus knew that his LED would be spinning yellow if he had kept it.

“Si?” he asked, growing more concerned when his partner seemed surprised at his presence. Simon hadn’t heard the door. “Is everything alright?”

“Oh, yes.” Simon smiled sadly, setting the magazine down on the coffee table. “I have some software updates running, they took over my HUD for a moment. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Worried, because you seem upset.” Markus knew he shouldn’t press, but he also couldn’t let Simon hide his pain. They had agreed to share these things.

“Please don’t worry. Oh!” Simon’s smile brightened, although it still seemed forced. “When are you proposing?”

“What?” Markus stepped back in surprise, glancing at the cabinets under the television. Not a speck of dust on them. Simon had found the ring while cleaning. “I meant for that to be a surprise,” he admitted, unsure if Simon’s reaction meant he would not appreciate the gesture.

“I won’t tell,” Simon promised, causing Markus’s face to twist in confusion as his brows furrowed. “Really. North will love the ring, it’s not traditional, it will suit her.”

“North?” Markus couldn’t help his nervous smile. Nothing about this situation made sense. “Why would she care what it looks like? I mean, she helped me pick it out, but-“

“Well, she is your girlfriend. Don’t be ridiculous, Markus.”

“She’s- Simon.” Their eyes met and Simon seemed to mirror his confusion. Markus thought back on the last two years, every moment they’d shared – Simon interfacing with him for the first time, their reunion after Stratford Tower, his place at Markus’s side at the end of the protest by the camp, the dates they went on where Simon always asked why none of the others would join them, the way his tired face lit up when Markus asked him to move in. They had never once discussed their relationship. Markus just assumed-

No.

“Shit.” He covered his eyes with one hand, pressing at his temples even though the pressure did nothing to the hard plastic. “Shit.”

“Markus?” Simon stood, alarmed, walking up to him and placing both hands on his shoulders. “What’s going on?”

“I’m wasn’t going to propose to North,” Markus explained, cursing again under his breath. He uncovered his eyes and looked at Simon, feeling a flood of guilt and sadness as he realized his mistakes in their- no, not a relationship. Friendship. “That ring is for you.”

“Me?” Simon’s voice crackled with a hint of static and he inclined his head as he tried to process that information. “I don’t understand.”

“I thought- I really messed this up. I thought we were dating.” It was a painful admission to make after so long, the verbal acknowledgment that he had managed to neglect Simon’s feelings while believing he was providing for him. If the shocked sound that escaped Simon’s mouth was anything to go by, their perceived relationship had been entirely one-sided.

“Markus, I don’t… you and North… me? How did you think-? We never even kissed,” Simon argued, dropping his hands to his sides as he tried to come to terms with the situation.

“I thought you were uncomfortable with that. Because of what was done to you, you didn’t want me to touch you, and I… believed it was obvious when I asked you to live with me. When I held you, when we created art together, I thought I didn’t have to say it. I’m sorry for being so blind.”

“Oh, Markus.” The last sound Markus expected rang out through the room – Simon’s laughter, a sound that mixed relief and happiness together, an expression so outgoing it was rarely seen on the blond. With warm, partially covered palms, Simon cupped his face and pressed their lips together.

Markus had that built-in hesitance from over a year of restraint around Simon, but it quickly crumbled as he realized his affection – physical and emotional – was accepted and desired. One strong arm wrapped around Simon’s middle as Markus reached his free hand up to take one of Simon’s, retracting his synthetic skin to initiate an interface.

He felt a current of joy and disbelief flowing from both of them, undercut by Simon’s previous emotions: sadness and jealousy, guilt, the thought of losing Markus once he married North. To comfort him and drive the last of those thoughts away, Markus covered Simon’s face in gentle pecks.

“I can’t believe you,” Simon laughed again, interlacing their fingers. “You made me wait so long.”

“I’m sorry.” Markus leaned back enough for their eyes to meet again. “I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you be my… boyfriend, husband, partner? Anything you want to be.”

“I will gladly be all of those.” Simon looked at their joined hands, still bright white and glowing. “I love you, too. And Markus?”

“Yes?”

“I like it when you touch me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @hassumccoy or @daughterofdeath and on twitter @xhelasdottir.


End file.
